Talks between Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and General Mazloum Abdi, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) leader, have collapsed in Damascus, a Kurdish official has told AFP.

Jan 19 (Reuters) - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic ‌Forces ​said on Monday that ‌an "armed group" was attacking Shaddadi prison in Hasaka ​in Syria's northeast where it said thousands of Islamic State militants ‍were being held.

Syria's new leaders, since toppling Bashar Assad in December 2024, have struggled to assert their full authority over the war-torn country.

The Syrian Army has announced a curfew in the city of al-Shaddadi in the country’s northeast after the escape of ISIL (ISIS) fighters from the city’s prison amid clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to the state news agency, SANA.

Syrian government categorically rejects ‘any attempt to use terrorism file as tool of political or security blackmail’ - Anadolu Ajansı

While the SDF has been the main partner of the U.S. in Syria in the fight against IS, Ankara considers it to be a terrorist group because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has mounted a long-running insurgency in Turkey.

Syria’s Interior Ministry has accused the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of deliberately releasing fighters from Islamic State (IS) held at al-Shaddadi prison in northeast Syria, describing the move as “political and security blackmail”.

Hundreds of IS members escaped a prison amid clashes between Syrian government forces and the SDF, the country's main Kurdish-led force.

Search for remaining ISIS members continues, Interior Ministry says after YPG/SDF terror group released 120 ISIS prisoners - Anadolu Ajansı

In the space of two days, the Syrian military, aided by tribal militia, has driven Kurdish forces from wide swathes of northern Syria that they have held for more than a decade.